Sunday, November 13, 2011

Advice from the Times of India

“Would it be right,” asks the Times of India in a recent article, “to say that despite growing in numbers, the
older-woman-younger-man-relationship always comes with a very short shelf
life?”

My goodness. One hopes not.

Saif and Amitra

Well, the Times offers me as proof, there is the breakup of
Madonna and Guy Ritchie. And Courtney Cox’s split from David Arquette. And of
course the divorce of that young pup Saif Ali Khan from his 12-years-older
wife, Amitra Singh, after a 13-year Bollywood marriage. Even that most famed of
Cougar unions, DemiAshton, reports the Times, is in danger of disunion.

Oh, yes. The
famous couples.

Putting aside the fallacy that the lives of the rich and
famous are evidence of anything except the lives of the rich and famous, I’m
going to give writer Haimanti Mukherjee credit for interviewing a relationship
counselor for advice that could keep a HimPlus love affair going. That advice­–mostly
directed toward women–seems fairly solid. In summary, this is what the Times
suggests:

1. Women needn’t act their man’s age. They need to act their
own. He didn’t fall in love with a woman his age; he fell in love with you.

2. Just because the woman acts her own age doesn’t mean she
gets to mother her man.

3. No couple does everything together, and that’s also true for
older women and younger men. So what if she wants to watch “The Breakfast Club”
one more time, and he wants to run up the side of a mountain? It’s okay to let
your partner enjoy his age sometimes without you; and you can enjoy yours
without him.

4. Refrain from asking over and over, “Why did you fall for
an older woman?” If you keep asking, he might eventually wonder, too.